


Teal like the ocean, brown like the trees

by Flamicia



Series: Legends and Songs [2]
Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Pathfinder (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/F, I've had this one sitting for a while and finally finished it, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Torture, Its the one where you can only see the color that your soulmate's eyes are, Swearing, The obligatory soulmate au that no one asked for, Tweenagers, but i wrote anyway cause i can
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-28
Updated: 2017-03-28
Packaged: 2018-10-12 05:57:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10483701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flamicia/pseuds/Flamicia
Summary: Aurora was five when she saw the color for the first time, standing out impossibly bright amongst the grey shiny surfaces of the handful of gems she had helped steal from a noblewoman's purse earlier that day.Aurlah had grown up surrounded by her color, from the trees in the forest that she had lived her childhood in, to the wooded beams that supported the Blödaxe halls, to the leather covers on the books she read, to even the tables she shared with the rest of the clan at meals.Or the story of how two people were joined together by fate, but still danced around each other like useless idiots.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I blame a mix of skype, other peoples amazing writing, and tumblr prompts for this mess. 
> 
> This story basically follows the timelines of two of our group's games, Legend of King Crokka, and The Blödaxe Prelude, and is split between the perspectives of my character, Aurlah, and my girlfriend's character. you do not need to have played the game with us to understand the story, after all, this is just another tale of two useless idiots falling in love.
> 
> Enjoy

    Aurora was five when she saw the color for the first time, standing out impossibly bright amongst the grey shiny surfaces of the handful of gems she had helped steal from a noblewoman's purse earlier that day. She didn’t even hesitate to snatch it from the pile, ignoring the sounds of protest from other street rats she was sharing the loot with. 

 

     The gem shimmered in her hand, seeming to glow against the backdrop of her grey hands and she held close, not wanting to let go of the only color in her otherwise monochrome world. The other kids fell silent, some of the older ones knowing what was happening. 

 

    “You can keep that one.” The leader of their small group said, his words making her look up at him. He shrugged “Dunno what color it is, but I won’t make you sell it”

 

   “Thank you” She murmured, closing her fingers around the stone, watching as the rest of the gang went back to squabbling over their shared spoils.

* * *

 

   Aurlah had grown up surrounded by her color, from the trees in the forest that she had lived her childhood in, to the wooded beams that supported the blodaxe halls, to the leather covers on the books she read, to even the tables she shared with the rest of the clan at meals. 

 

   Gwendolyn, the clan's matriarch, had told her that it was a dark shade of brown that she was seeing, which had made her feel very concerned. After all, brown eyes, she was told, were very common among many races across Jalreath. And she was old enough to know what seeing only brown ment.

 

   “I see blue.” Liv said one day as she, Aurlah and Hillevi sat in the courtyard, letting Ned take over watching Hope for a bit. The one year old gurgling and cooing as she rolled around in the grass next to her guardian.

 

   “So do I… although i think it's a different shade.” Hillevi replied “mom described it as light blue when i pointed it out to her”

 

   “I see dark brown…..” Aurlah murmured, not looking up from the journal that sat in her lap, although her sight was focussed on the leather cover, rather than the words and drawings that had help her attention a second ago. 

 

   “Well, I guess we’re fucked sticking around here then, Sheildlord knows that blue eyes aren’t a thing in this clan.”Liv grumbled, looking at her twin with the twinkle in her eye that promised trouble.  “And I’m pretty sure Aurlah would know if anyone in the clan was her soulmate by now.” 

 

   Aurlah grunted in agreement, because while many of the dwarves eye color was visible to her, none of them were a match. Which honestly left her relieved, she was only eleven for Sheildlord’s sake! She didn’t need to meet her soulmate this soon. Although a certain dwarf would probably think otherwise.

 

   “You run away, i'm telling Gwendolyn.” Aurlah chuckled, looking up and reaching over to poke her trouble making adopted sister.

 

   “No fair, I meant when we’re older, and have gotten our braides…..” The offending dwarf replied with a pout. 

 

   “And what if we manage to get them early? Mom still won’t let us leave until we’re strong enough to fight giants” Hillevi groaned, tossing her head back dramatically and looking up at the stone ceiling

 

   “We’ll just have to make sure that each refugee that walks into these halls bumps into us at some point.” Liv replied 

 

   “You need skin on skin contact to make sure it's your soulmate.” the other dwarf replied, her voice flat.

 

   “In the baths” 

 

   “You’re gross”

 

   “Hey! Do you want your soulmate to slip past you?”   


 

   “Liv, I doubt i'm going to meet my soulmate in these mountains….”

 

    Aurlah chuckled, listening to the twins bicker, the sound familiar to her ears after years of living with them. Her hands traced over the dark brown cover of her journal, a single thought dancing through her mind.  _ I wonder what they’re like….. _

* * *

 

   Aurora was eight when she finally got a name for the color that glowed from the gem that she carried around with her at all time. 

 

   “Oh that?” the guild member who she had asked said. “Thats teal, sweetheart. I think the elves get eyes like those.”    
  


    She nodded, closing her fingers around the stone and was about to slip it back in her pocket before the woman spoke again. 

 

   “If you want, I can make you a necklace out of it, so you don't lose it” She offered, making the girl pause, shooting the older woman a look. She scoffed. “I ain’t gonna steal it, Chrysocolla gems aren’t worth much on the market, even if they’re nicely cut like that one.”

  
  
    “Can i watch you make it?” Aurora asked, partially because she was paranoid, and partially because she wanted to know how to make things that weren’t lockpicks or dinky shivs.

 

   That brought out a smile. “Yeah, sure come on, kiddo”

 

    The necklace they ended up making was actually pretty simple, made out of a few pieces of scrap and some rivets and magic to make everything stay together. But when Aurora curled up to sleep that night she felt much safer with the colorful stone around her neck than she had ever felt with it in her pocket. It was like a piece of her soulmate was there with her, rather than possibly across the globe. An indefinite concept that she couldn’t quite yet grasp. Something intangible, that faded into smoke when she reached for it. The small girl griped the cool stone and curled tighter in on herself, eventually drifting off to sleep.

* * *

 

    Aurora was twelve when Blanketshire ripped through the guild, betraying them and murdering the man she called her father in front of her eyes. He would make his escape alive, but not before the young girl swore vengeance upon the man. 

 

     She would spend the next six years clawing her way to the top of the thieves guild before leaving with her adopted family’s blessing, seeking the vengeance all of them craved.

* * *

 

    Aurlah was fifteen when she met Blanketshire for the first time, although he called himself by a different name.He was one of the many refugees coming in that winter to escape the biting Raccanan cold that howled along the horrors of crimes past.

 

    The first thing she noticed about the man was that she could see his eye color, dark brown glared coldly down at her, as if his eyes were trying to discover all her secrets. But he wasn’t a match. She had to fight to keep her legs from buckling with relief, although she had no idea at the time where her fear of the man came from.

 

    She wouldn’t be able to dwell on that for very long, because when early spring came her clan, her family, was nearly ripped apart by a force that had destroyed her ancestors. 

 

    They would survive, but only thanks to the resourcefulness of a party of adventurers, a demon who had nearly killed her, and the mighty wrath of the horse god, Nudge.

 

    Three years later, she would leave her home. A young woman, ready to find her own destiny, and maybe her soulmate along the way.

* * *

 

    Aurora was twenty four when she met Aurlah in the mines of King Crokka, and while the half elf wasn’t the first teal eyed person she’d met, she couldn’t ignore the way her heart skiped a beat when the woman fought with a grace that she could just tell was born of years of practice. Even better, she was smart, strong and way more fun to flirt with than the vampires they had encountered before Aurlah showed up. 

 

    There was only one problem though, the damn woman didn’t show off any skin other than her face, and even a street rat come prodigy rogue knew it was a dumb move to kiss someone you just met. So Aurora was stuck to clinging to the strong woman’s arm and swooning, hoping she would get the message.

 

     Spoiler alert: she did, and she could flirt better than the rogue ever imagined. But neither of them took off their gloves and held hands, so it was a moot point.

* * *

 

     Aurlah smiled as she watched Felicity and Raven hold each other, the events of the last few days had been…. Chaotic to say the least. 

 

    First of all, Jivhanna was stressful as fuck for anyone who wasn’t a full blooded elf to visit, but then Felicity’s recapture by the people who had owned her as a slave had been a horrible experience for everyone. Especially Felicity herself. But a few good things came out of it, Felicity got her revenge on her captors by busting out some fucking awesome goddess abilities that she apparently possessed and she and Raven discovered they were soulmates. 

 

    The campfire they had set up crackled, and Aurlah wrapped her fur lined cloak tighter around herself. Without realizing it, she glanced toward Aurora. The rogue had already turned in for the night, her sleeping form curled up inside her bedroll. Her hand seemed to be clutching at something hanging around her neck and it took all of the barbarian’s willpower not to scoot over and see what it was. 

 

 _She looks so peaceful….._ Aurlah thought as she watched the human sleep, wondering who was lucky enough to have the sassy rogue as a soulmate. A pang of possessive jealousy swept through her at the very concept, surprising her until the realization hit her that in the month she had been traveling with the party she had fallen for the rogue hard and fast. Which was just great. She had no clue if Aurora was her brown eyed mystery person or if it was someone else she would meet later in life.

 

    She sighed, looking away from the rogue in question and into the fire, her thoughts dancing along with the flames. Tomorrow they would reach Halrek….. Whatever this was could wait till then. Right?

* * *

 

    ‘Whatever this was’ did end up waiting till they reached Halrek, and until they were deep in the ruins of the Stonebeard’s section of the city, searching for a cure to lift a curse on the sleeping Brozelight princess.

 

     Aurlah sighed, standing in the doorway of the storeroom that Aurora had holed herself up in. Said rogue sat under a dilapidated table, her legs pulled tight to her chest and her face buried in her arms.  The half elf moved closer to the human, her boots crunching over the gravel from the deteriorated stone floor

 

   “Alone is really out of you people’s vocabulary….” she grumbled, not looking up, her voice laced with anger along with despair.

 

   “Aurora?” She asked, stopping a few feet away from her “You seem upset….. What’s wrong?”

 

    The woman didn’t reply, seeming to ignore the half elf for the moment. Aurlah sighed, walking into the room and moving to sit next to her, ducking her head so she could fit under the tabletop. 

 

    “I found this sword….” Aurora began, her breath shaky with fear “Back in Jivhanna, and didn’t draw it until now…. But…. it talked to me… and Felicity freaked out when she saw it…”

 

    She showed Aurlah the sword in question, still in its sheath and the barbarian tried to ignore the ball of dread that grew in her throat at the sight of it. “It called itself drowslayer…. And said it was the bane of all elves… and I…. I tried to throw myself in a lava pit to get rid of it….”

 

    Aurlah watched as the human put the sword back before curling up into her original position. “I’m scared, Aurlah, scared that i’ll end up hurting Felicity…. Scared that i might hurt you, too”   
  


    The half elf didn’t speak for a few seconds, mulling over her thoughts before sighing. She turned her head, reaching up and pulling Aurora close until their foreheads touched. She closed her eyes and spoke “I doubt the others will let that sword control you. Nudge knows I won't. You don't need to worry. We’ll look for some way to get rid of it and in the meantime have your back if anything goes wrong.” 

 

     “Aurlah….” The rogue replied, her voice almost pleading.

 

    “Aurora.” She said, her own voice stern, no room for negotiation in the tone.

 

     “A...Aurlah…Open your eyes.”

 

    Unbidden, her eyes flew open only to soak in the color of Aurora’s skin. She pulled away, looking around the room, only to find it to be the same shade of grey. She looked back at Aurora, happy to find that her skin wasn’t back to the light grey it had been before.    
  


   Aurora was beaming. All thoughts of the sword seeming to be forgotten by the look on her face. “I guess this makes us soulmates”   
  
   Aurlah laughed, taking the human’s hands in hers, their fingers slipping together like two pieces of a puzzle and it all just felt so  _ right _ “I guess so”

  
    If the party was at all annoyed by how long they took to return, they didn’t say anything. After all, the joy that seemed to emanate from the pair for the next hour was infectious.


End file.
